Awkward Beginnings
by missxcellophane
Summary: Scorpius makes his first and best friends at Hogwarts, shortly after arriving at the school.
1. Sir Luckless

Ever since he was a toddler, Scorpius' mother would read him bedside stories. He would always eagerly snuggle in and watch her face as she wove tales, because her voice and her expressions always enlivened the words, turning boring tales into exciting adventures that left him in almost despair when they finally ended. No matter how many times she read a story, he was always eager to hear it again and again, and Asteria Malfoy could hardly resist indulging her son in something so simple, particularly those nights when Draco would watch from the doorway, freshly home from the Ministry. In the early days, that was one of the few minutes of peace for Scorpius' father, what with how hard he had to work.

But after a few years, that hard work seemed to drain a little something out of Draco. He grew distant, frustrated by the way nothing he did ever seemed to make everything better. Ever since the war it had been that way, and it was utterly foreign. At least Asteria, the pleasanter though slightly less pretty of the Greengrass sisters, was used to not getting everything she wanted. Draco was not. And the lack of that experience made the already difficult times worse.

Even Scorpius could sense the gradual change in his father, and as a kid he first began to fear, then resent it. He still looked up to his father, but he sometimes reminded him of the main character in the story "The Warlock's Hairy Heart," a rather gruesome tale about a man who used Dark Arts to remove his own heart. Draco still took the time to be with his family, to teach Scorpius to fly or to take him to a game, but in the end he would drift away again, become distracted and cold, more like Grandfather Malfoy than he probably ever realized or wanted to seem.

Scorpius, on the other hand, always imagined himself to be Sir Luckless, of his favorite story, "The Fountain of Fair Fortune." Though he certainly always had enough money and attention from family, he had always harbored a feeling that he lacked…something. Not that he would ever tell his parents that, no matter how many times his mother read the story to him; his rusted armor felt too personal, and in any case, he didn't want to tell his parents that he related to a character with no magic—he was unsure of how they'd react.

He was certainly luckless on his first day at Hogwarts. Scorpius had assumed the Sorting Ceremony would be the most stressful part of his beginning at Hogwarts, but he had been most definitely wrong. The Sorting had gone, at least for him, quite quickly, sending him to the Slytherin house, where his parents had gone before him. He wasn't exactly greeted with open arms, but at least there was a spare seat for him to sink into. After that, he'd been too tired to interact with any of his classmates.

Now, as he made his way to his second class of the day, he was about to meet some of them. The first warning was the clamoring of adolescent voices, and the dull thud of something hitting the wall. Frowning, he hastened his pace slightly before emerging into the next corridor and taking in the scene.

"Leave it, Eric. It's not worth it," advised a bored-sounding girl with long, dark hair. She was examining her nails as a brutish boy glared forebodingly at his intended target, a much smaller boy whose back was to the wall. Scorpius didn't recognize the first two, but the would-be victim (if he was not mistaken) had been Sorted shortly after he had. While the lad's name escaped him, he did remember the odd murmur that had rippled across the hall after the Hat had shouted, _"SLYTHERIN!"_

"Who says?" the hulking boy grunted. "We don't need his kind in our house." He jerked his thumb towards the younger kid, whose jaw was clenched. Scorpius wasn't sure if the boy was afraid, angry, or both.

"Speaking of…" the girl said softly, turning a discerning eye on Scorpius, who felt himself pale slightly. Her dark blue gaze narrowed and the large boy (Eric was it?) swiveled on his heel to look at Scorpius.

_Merlin's beard! Bloody hell!_ Scorpius hadn't even decided yet if he had wanted to get involved, but apparently he wasn't about to get a choice. All three fellow students were looking at him, from the girl's silent evaluation to the bullying boy's hostile glower to the smaller boy's bemusement. _You've really stepped right in it now, haven't you, Sir Luckless? _he noted grimly as Bully Boy took a threatening step towards him.

"A Potter _and_ a Malfoy," the older boy said in disgust, looking at him as if he were something pickled, floating in a potion jar. Scorpius bristled considerably. No one spoke of Malfoys that way! They were an old, wealthy pureblood family, and Scorpius had been taught that meant respect. Certainly it in no way prompted repugnance.

"And what are you, exactly?" Scorpius asked, striving for that cold, detached tone his father used sometimes towards people he didn't like. Scorpius had never realized how hard that was to maintain when he'd like little better than to throttle the boy.

"A Vaisey," the boy shot back proudly, puffing himself up. The girl looked bored again, as if she'd heard this a few too many times. "Which is much better than a filthy traitor, or a tainted Muggle-lover."

Scorpius opened his mouth to protest—though to be honest, he wasn't sure which of the two the boy so erroneously seemed to think a Malfoy was—when the temporarily forgotten boy, apparently named Potter, commented under his breath, "Better that than a boulder-headed git."

The girl, surprisingly, chuckled at this, but Vaisey turned a particularly unappealing shade of plum. Scorpius had to admit he was fighting a snicker, and his estimation of the boy shot up considerably. It wasn't a very wise thing to say, but it showed he was funny and either very brave or harboring a death wish. "My father told me all about _your_ family—!" Vaisey began to hiss, but was cut off by a shout from down the hall.

"Oi!" hollered a stout black boy (no doubt at least a third year), closely followed by a girl Scorpius' age, with light brown hair and large blue doe eyes. The boy looked rather exasperated, and the girl was nibbling so hard at her lip she was probably in danger of bleeding. "What's going on here, eh?"

"Nothing, Freddy," Potter muttered darkly, looking at Vaisey.

"Nothing?" Scorpius almost sputtered, but the other boy shot him a quelling look. Though his mind was still filled with a yearning for retaliation, casting a cursory glance over Vaisey and the girl convinced him that perhaps it _would_ be against better judgment to start making enemies on his first day at school. So instead of hashing out the details of the argument, Scorpius simply shrugged, though his gaze towards Vaisey was stony. "We were talking family trees."

He could have sworn the older black boy muttered under his breath, _"Slytherins,"_ before making shooing gestures at the other two Slytherins. The girl turned on her heel easy as you please, with a coolness that both annoyed Scorpius and made him admire her a bit, but Vaisey couldn't help but shoot one last spiteful glance before reluctantly leaving as well.

"Well, if that's all settled," the older boy concluded cheerfully. "Al, I hope you can actually make it through a day without causing some sort of ruckus, or you're going to give Grandmother a heart attack. And that's James' and my job. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a bar of frogspawn soap that needs to be dropped in the lake at the first opportunity." With a grin, he strolled off, without a care in the world.

_Grandmother?_ Scorpius frowned slightly in confusion. Were they related then? That seemed about the right conclusion as the girl threw her arms around Potter's neck. "Al, I haven't seen you since the train! You wouldn't believe—well, I guess you would, since you were just talking to her—and oh, Slytherin! How did you—?" she began to babble, but stopped short to blink at Scorpius, who had just been edging to go.

He wasn't sure what he expected her to say, but somehow it wasn't what she did, while untangling herself from Potter, who looked mildly relieved (and slightly blue from lack of air). "Oh! I'm being rude. I'm Rose, Rose Weasley. That's my cousin Al." She smiled, guilelessly and warmly, which made Scorpius feel a tad less uncomfortable. The girl had a way about her that he found enchanting as much as eccentric, though that last name—rather like Potter's—seemed oddly familiar. Maybe their dads worked with his. Or maybe there was something infamous about their families that prompted Vaisey's reaction.

While his parents would have probably warned him away from them, if that were the case, Scorpius didn't really find it necessary. After all, they seemed less unpleasant than the other two.

"Scorpius Malfoy," he said, remembering the manners his mother had strictly taught him. She was a lot easier-going than his father, but she had always sworn that her son would be raised to be a perfect gentleman. His father found this amusing for some reason, but at that point had been married long enough to know when to keep his own council.

"Oh, I know," Rose said brightly. Scorpius blinked. She knew who he was…? Well blimey, perhaps his family _did_ have a bad reputation he hadn't been told about. He began to mentally dig through what his father had said to him in preparation of boarding the train.

"_Be careful who you choose as friends,"_ the elder Malfoy had said after a pause. _"You'd be surprised the impact that will have on the next seven years. And treat teachers with respect—"_

"_At least while they're around,"_ his mother had chimed in, glancing at her husband knowingly, who gave her a tart look in return.

"_Treat teachers with respect,"_ his father continued with emphasis, _"both because it's helpful to have one on your side, and because I don't want to receive any owls about you getting a detention, do you understand?"_ At his father's stern look, Scorpius had ducked his head quickly, and Draco's expression thawed. _"You'll do fine, son. You're a Malfoy, after all."_ But as Scorpius had been absorbing this, his father glanced across the platform, the oddest expression taking over his face. It was filled with…what? Respect, shame, dislike? Scorpius really couldn't have been sure, but his father nodded at whatever or whoever he had seen, and went back to maneuvering his son's trunk.

Potter interrupted Scorpius' reverie to say to his cousin, "I'm fine, Rosie, before you start worrying. This wasn't the first time I had a bit of a run-in with my new housemates." He brushed off his robes, trying to look disinterested, but Scorpius had a feeling it hadn't been pleasant. "Congratulations on Gryffindor, though. Looks like Uncle Ron won't have to disown you."

"He was joking," the girl asserted, though her azure eyes seemed wide and slightly unsure. "You know how Dad and Uncle George are. I'm sure no one will mind that, you know, you're in…well, Slytherin."

"What's wrong with Slytherin?" Scorpius asked before he could think better of it.

Thankfully, Rose didn't seem to take offense—in fact, she looked horribly apologetic. "Oh! Nothing!" she quickly assured him. "Are you a…? It's just—well—I—James said—"

"James said what?" Al asked, straightening his robes, which Vaisey had mussed with his manhandling and Rose with her hugging. His dark hair, however, seemed rather hopelessly messy.

"He and Freddy were probably joking," she continued nervously, pressing her fingers against the barrette in her cinnamon brown hair. _It matches her eyes,_ Scorpius found himself noting. _A pretty sky blue._ Once he noted that, however, he blinked, a bit surprised at himself. _Where did that come from?_ "But they said that only evil wizards come out of Slytherin."

"James likes a laugh," Al replied, sighing a bit. "He'd been teasing me that I'd be in Slytherin—I guess he was right. But you don't think I'm evil, do you, Rosie?"

"Of course not," Rose insisted earnestly. "And Scorpius, you seem nice, too, despite what Dad said."

Scorpius was utterly befuddled, blinking. "Despite what?"

Rose patted down her hair nervously. For such a young girl, she seemed to have a lot of nervous gestures. "Oh, well, my Dad—he jokes a lot—he said I had to beat you in every test."

Scorpius was completely and utterly befuddled. "Why is that?"

"Oh, I don't know," Rose replied with a dismissive wave. "You know adults. All they talk about is insane rubbish. Or things they're not interested in at all. Like discussing the weather with someone they don't like." She shrugged. "Anyway, you two prove that Slytherins _aren't_ that bad, or not all of them, anyway."

"Other than Vaisey, yeah," Potter grumbled darkly. "If this is the way they welcome people, maybe I would have been better off with you in Gryffindor, or with Dominique in Ravenclaw."

Scorpius was having a hard time keeping track of all these people they seemed to know. He was fairly certain they were first years like him, and he only recognized a few people, mostly children whose parents knew his, and them he barely could remember the names of. Or his cousin, Aimon, but the two boys hadn't really spent much time with each other since they were eight years old.

"Don't be silly!" Rose admonished, starting to gently take the boys by their elbows and lead them down the hall. They allowed this without protest, Al because he was used to it, and Scorpius because he was too busy trying to follow all that was being said. He hadn't come from a particularly large or talkative family, so he had a harder time following such easy chatter. "This gives you a chance to show that Slytherins aren't bad, and maybe better those that are. Like that boy you mentioned, or that horrid Nott girl."

"Who?" Al asked, nonplussed.

"That girl who was here," Rose explained, nose wrinkling in an oddly charming fashion. Scorpius found a lot about her oddly charming, actually, though also as confusing a person as he'd ever met. "Megaera Nott. We shared a boat together since you and I got separated. I started talking to this girl, Beth—she's a Hufflepuff, so I'm hoping to see her later in Defense Against the Dark Arts, which Gryffindor shares with them—and Nott was rather snide about Beth's family." She frowned deeper. "I'm not sure if it was more a history of Hufflepuff or being half Muggle that bothered her."

"That's awful," Al agreed, looking troubled. Scorpius himself felt rather uneasy, partly because he remembered his parents' acquaintances saying rather deriding things about Muggles in passing, and him having never really questioned it much. All in all, in fact, he wasn't exactly sure why they didn't like them, just that they didn't. His father would usually shrug or agree mildly, while his mother would get rather tightlipped and shoot her husband glances.

"But you see, you can change that," Rose said brightly as they tromped down the stairs. "And won't it be great having people from the family in all of the houses? You in Slytherin, Dominique in Ravenclaw, Molly in Hufflepuff, the rest of us in Gryffindor…"

"All of those people are related to you?" Scorpius asked, a little dumbfounded.

"Of course," Rose replied. "So's Freddy—the boy who got rid of Vaisey and Nott? Actually, he was walking me to find Al so we could go to Herbology together. The boys in our family," she added with a distinct air of resentment, "are very overprotective. Apparently Teddy used to walk Molly, Dominique, and Victoire places in their first few years so they wouldn't get hassled like a lot of other younger students, so now Freddy and James have taken it upon themselves to do the same, starting with me and later with Lily, Lucy, and Roxanne once they get to Hogwarts."

Scorpius actually thought that was rather thoughtful, seeing as he'd just seen Potter almost smashed into a pulp, but apparently Rose saw this as a bit of an affront. He wouldn't mind a large family looking out for him. In fact, it seemed rather nice.


	2. Potters and Malfoys

The rest of the way to the greenhouses was punctuated by Rose cheerfully answering any and every question Scorpius had, from the Potter-Weasley families to the history of their school. Al was still almost taciturn compared to his chatty cousin, but it was more of a peaceful silence than the angry one of earlier. On occasion he would offer an amusing insight or supplement Rose's breathless explanations to better help Scorpius understand them, and he had a feeling the other boy was a bit more open upon closer friendship. Scorpius could relate, though he found Rose's open-book mentality rather fascinating.

At the greenhouses Rose promptly arranged it so the three of them could plant together. He wasn't sure what had inspired her to take him under her wing, but he was grateful, as the only face he really recognized among the collected group of Gryffindor and Slytherin first years was Nott's, looking calm and beyond her years even as she was handed a bag of fertilizer. She did grimace slightly, however, which seemed to leave Rose obscurely pleased.

The teacher, Professor Longbottom, was patient and direct, though the old scars stretched across his flesh made Scorpius wonder what the professor had done before taking the position, or if the plants in the other greenhouses were really that dangerous.

As Professor Longbottom made his rounds observing and correcting the students while they replanted simple daisies ("So you can get used to potting with something that won't try to bite you"), Rose asked, "So what's your family like?"

Al, who had just smeared dirt across his forehead when rubbing it with his gloved hand, drew giggles from a gaggle of Gryffindor girls. "Rosie, let the poor boy be, won't you? I swear, you talk even more than Lily does."

Rose sniffed, taking a glove off her right hand so she could pull a tissue out of her bag to wipe the soil off of the boy's forehead, ignoring his wiggling and protestations. "Don't be silly, Albus. I'm only being friendly. Scorpius doesn't mind, does he?"

She replaced her glove and turned the full force of her large blue eyes expectantly upon Scorpius, who suddenly felt utterly powerless against her. "Uh, I, er, I don't mind," he said awkwardly, causing Al to roll his eyes. What to say about his family? "My family—it's not as big as yours. My dad takes me to Quidditch games sometimes when he's off work." That felt better than saying, _I don't see my dad much, and he's always tired, and I'm beginning to be confused about whether I'm expected to hate Muggles like that Nott girl apparently does._

"I love Quidditch," Al commented, a slight smile appearing hesitantly. "Both my parents used to play for Gryffindor."

"Really?" Scorpius asked. "My dad was on the Slytherin team. Maybe they played against each other. What national team do you support?"

"Most of the family supports the Cannons, like Rose's dad Uncle Ron, but my mum used to be on the Harpies, so it's a bit of a matter of contention whenever they play each other," Al replied with a shrug, dropping his daisy into its pot.

"Your mum played professionally? That's brilliant," Scorpius said, gaining enthusiasm. "I rather like the Falcons myself—"

"How are we doing here?" asked a not unkindly voice, and the three kids looked up to see Professor Longbottom inspecting their work. "Rose, I see you did excellently. Not surprising," he added with a bit of humor. "Al, nice work, but a little more gently next time. And you…" He paused as he scanned Scorpius, then his pot. The boy felt a little uncomfortable, though the professor seemed friendly still, if a bit surprised. "You're Scorpius Malfoy, aren't you? Well, well. You're doing pretty well, but do try to hurry up, not much time left."

"Thanks, Professor Longbottom," Rose said brightly, beaming at the compliment. "How is Aunt Hannah?"

"She's doing fine," Longbottom replied pleasantly. "You two can pay me a visit in my office later to chat, but in the meantime, I'll leave you to finish up the assignment."

As he left to check on other students, Scorpius asked dryly, "Another family member?"

"No," Al replied, trying to maneuver his daisy in the soil without crushing any leaves. He was rather having a time of it, even more than Scorpius himself was having. Herbology was just not his subject, apparently. "He was a friend and schoolmate of our parents. Just like Teddy is a part of the family, but not really related by any means." He shrugged. "I dunno, I guess our family tends to adopt people."

As Scorpius pondered this, he was jolted out of his thoughts by a delicate hand landing on his shoulder. When he looked up, it was into the solemn cobalt eyes of Nott, who gave him a mild half smile. She was sort of pretty in a way, though also rather unnerving.

"I'm sorry about earlier," she said placidly, looking from him to Al. "Not everyone in our house is like Vaisey. Most of us don't care that much about things in the past, or what your family did."

"What _did_ our families do?" Scorpius asked before he could think better of it. Really, being around talkative Rose was causing him to say before he thought, entirely too much.

"Don't you know?" Megaera inquired, raising an eyebrow. She was completely ignoring Rose, who was wearing a rather sullen expression at her presence. It was almost comical, in fact, because both girls had more in common than they likely suspected. Megaera and Rose both had long brown hair (though Nott's was very, very dark and smooth and was worn down, while the other girl had cinnamon hair that appeared a bit frizzy and time-consuming to tame, and was worn back, held by that barrette), blue eyes a bit too large for their faces (Megaera's however were dark and soulful whereas Rose's were pale and innocent), and completely and utterly confused Scorpius (though so far he preferred Rose's brand of confusion). They also were already quite set against the other, and unlikely to change.

"No," Al answered, frowning.

Megaera looked honestly surprised, though no less collected. "Why, Potter, your family was instrumental in bringing down the dark wizard He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and many of our housemates had family directly involved in his quest for power. Including," she continued, turning her gaze back to Scorpius, "yours, Malfoy. But your family turned tail in the end. That's why some of the other Slytherins feel angry towards you. I thought you knew."

"I didn't," Al said slowly, still frowning. "Did you?"

"No," Scorpius responded. He felt like the earth had dropped from under him, and wasn't sure if he should believe her or not. He did know that he'd be sending home a very concerned letter quite soon, though. "But you aren't upset at us?"

"Not in the least," Megaera replied simply, tossing her long sheet of dark brown hair over her shoulder. Rose's eyes narrowed as it brushed her face roughly, most likely on purpose. "My father wasn't involved, and my grandfather, who was, doesn't concern me much. Besides, it's not your fault they're your family."

"Gee," Rose interjected in an acidic tone, apparently fed up with being ignored, "what changed your mind from last night? Or did you just make an exception for Beth?"

Megaera only then turned and scanned Rose up and down with a faint look of distaste, like Rose were a filthy beggar pulling on her robe sleeve. Or a door-to-door Magical Mess Remover salesman. "Oh. Weasley. I didn't see you." She then turned toward the boys again and smiled. "Well, I'll see you around the common room."

She sauntered off, leaving in her wake two very confused Slytherin boys and one very irritated Gryffindor girl. Once class was over, the three trouped along back towards the castle, Scorpius and Al lagging a bit behind Rose, who set a grueling pace as she muttered to herself.

"Do you believe what she said?" Scorpius asked Al softly, trying not to rouse Rose's attention or, more importantly, ire.

"I don't know," Al replied seriously. He looked deep in thought, and as though the thoughts he were delving into weren't entirely pleasant. "If she was telling the truth, I kind of wish my parents had told me this before shipping me off to live most the year with a bunch of people who hate me."

Scorpius nodded, running a hand through his hair. "Would have been nice, yeah. Especially if we wake up with our legs turned to jelly or our tongues glued to the roofs of our mouths by said people." Not that he knew yet how to do either of those things, but he had been reading about them in a book while shopping for school supplies in Diagon Alley before his mother had pulled him away to try on robes. He hoped the library had a copy of the book, especially now that he apparently might need it.

"Yeah," Al agreed with a faint chuckle, before looking at Scorpius in a silent evaluation. "Since we're apparently in this together, maybe we should watch each other's back?"

Scorpius was a little surprised, but couldn't help the smile that crept up. "Sounds good to me," he replied, realizing he'd made his first friend in Slytherin. He just hoped it wouldn't be his last.

"Hey little bro, hi Rosie," greeted a second or third year boy with the same messy black hair as Al, but with brown eyes instead of green. He had apparently been waiting for them in the Great Hall, leaning against the stone wall. The boy possessed the kind of easy-going self-assurance that Scorpius rather envied. "I see you've made a friend."

"This is Scorpius," Rose supplied, though her cheeks were still a bright pink and her shoulders hunched, as they'd been since Megaera's little visit. Some of her hair had escaped the barrette, and she was looking very cross. "He's in our year, a Slytherin like Al. Scorpius, this is James."

Without breaking stride, she headed to the staircase, calling over her shoulder, "I'll see you later. Keep up if you want, James."

James raised an eyebrow and jerked his thumb in the direction his cousin had stormed off to. "Who put the bee in Rosie's bonnet?" He eyed Scorpius speculatively, and the younger boy automatically took a step back. From what Rose and Al had told him, it wasn't a great idea to get on James' wrong side. People who did tended to wake up to find someone had built castles of Exploding Snap cards all around their room. Apparently Al had once lost an eyebrow that way.

"A Slytherin girl," Al replied with a sigh. "Apparently they had a row before they'd even set foot in the castle."

James seemed rather pleased by this piece of information. "Now that's a real Gryffindor for you." He grinned deviously at his little brother. "I told you you'd be in Slytherin. Ah well. Still hope for Lily, eh?" He then startled Scorpius by poking him in the shoulder. "Watch after my little brother, will you? I'm off to keep sweet little Rosie from getting hexed by someone—or vice versa." He sighed and offered with a shrug before turning on his heel, "Girls are scary, I tell you." With that he hurried off after his cousin.

There was a pause for a moment before Scorpius looked at Al and stated, "Your family is filled with lunatics."

Al didn't take offense, and nodded instead. "I know."

"I mean, completely mad."

"Yeah."

"So how come I like them already?" Scorpius asked, and Al grinned despite himself as the two set off for Potions class.


End file.
